In the United States Court of Federal Claims

No. 19-1520C

(Filed: January 29, 2021)

JOHNSON LASKY KINDELIN 

ARCHITECTS, INC., for the benefit of 

IMEG CORP., f/k/a KJWW

ENGINEERING

Plaintiff,

 v.

THE UNITED STATES,

Defendant.

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OPINION AND ORDER

The Court once again must decide whether it has jurisdiction – pursuant to the 

Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a), and the Contract Disputes Act (“CDA”), 41 U.S.C. 

§§ 7101–7109 – to decide a case predicated upon a government claim contained in a 

contracting officer’s final decision finding that two, unrelated contractors are jointly 

liable for the same injury and sum certain arising from alleged breaches of their 

respective, independent contracts. For the reasons discussed below, and based upon 

the Court’s previous decision in Johnson Lasky Kindelin Architects, Inc. v. United States 

(“JLK I”), No. 19-1419C, -- Fed. Cl. --, 2020 WL 7649972 (Dec. 23, 2020), the Court 

dismisses this case for lack of jurisdiction.

I. Factual Background

Plaintiff Johnson Lasky Kindelin Architects, Inc. (“JLK”) filed two separate 

complaints against Defendant, the United States of America, acting by and through the 

General Services Administration (“GSA”). Both cases involve the same underlying 

contract. This Court dismissed the first matter in JLK I. This decision addresses JLK’s 

second case against the government.

In 2010, GSA retained JLK to provide professional design services as the 

architect-engineer supporting the relocation of existing National Labor Relations Board 

(“NLRB”) office space. JLK I, 2020 WL 7649972, at *1 (Dec. 23, 2020). GSA separately 
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contracted with Master Design Build, LLC (“MDB”) to provide the necessary 

construction services for the relocation of the NLRB office space. Id. 

In JLK I, the claim at issue involved a supplemental air conditioning unit, which 

JLK designed for the NLRB space and MDB installed. Id. Ultimately, a condenser 

fluid pipe in the newly installed cooling system malfunctioned and caused extensive 

damage to parts of the NLRB space, as well as portions of the United States 

Bankruptcy Court on the sixth and seventh floors of the building in which the NLRB 

space was located. Id. at *2. GSA retained Bailey Edward, an independent architecture 

and engineer consulting firm, to investigate the cause of the condenser fluid piping 

system failure. Id. Following that investigation, Bailey Edward issued a report, in 

which the firm concluded that “that the leak resulted due to the confluence of several 

factors,” including issues with JLK’s design and MDB’s installation failures. Id. Bailey 

Edward, however, “determined that it could not assign fault to JLK to the exclusion of 

MDB (or the government) . . . .” Id.

After reviewing Bailey Edward’s report, the cognizant contracting officer issued 

a single contracting officer’s final decision (“COFD”) to both JLK and MDB for

$1,938,866.86, claiming that both companies were jointly and severally liable to GSA 

for that amount. Id. at *3. While the COFD acknowledged that the design and 

construction services were provided separately by JLK and MDB under different 

contracts, the contracting officer nevertheless concluded that JLK and MDB were 

jointly and severally liable for the resulting damages and, accordingly, instructed them 

to collectively reimburse GSA. Id. In essence, the contracting officer issued a COFD 

finding two, unrelated contractors – JLK and MDB – jointly and severally liable for the 

same sum certain arising from independent breaches of their respective contracts with 

GSA. Id. at *1. It is this COFD upon which JLK’s first claim and complaint were 

predicated and that this Court ultimately dismissed in JLK I.

The above-captioned case raises a similar issue. As part of JLK’s prime contract 

with GSA, JLK hired a subcontractor, IMEG Corp. (“IMEG”), to provide design services

for the installation of a fire alarm system. ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”) ¶ 9. After GSA 

determined that certain conduit connections for the fire alarm system were not 

furnished and installed per project specifications, MDB charged GSA $48,795.54 to 

complete the additional work. Id. at ¶¶ 15, 16. On October 2, 2018, the same 

contracting officer who had issued the COFD in JLK I issued another COFD, this time 

finding that JLK and MDB were jointly liable for the $48,795.54 MDB charged to GSA

for the conduit work.

1

 Id. at ¶¶ 17, 18. The COFD at issue here uses identical language

1 JLK, as a prime contractor, is responsible forthe actions of its subcontractors. See Todd Const., 

L.P. v. United States, 656 F.3d 1306, 1316 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (“[A] contractor is responsible for the 
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as the COFD in JLK I, with the agency claiming a sum certain from the same parties and 

under the same contracts at issue in JLK I, once again invoking a tort theory of joint 

liability.2 

II. Procedural History 

On October 1, 2019, JLK, for the benefit of IMEG, filed suit in this Court, alleging 

that the COFD for $48,795.54 was unreasonable and erroneous, or in the alternative, 

incomplete. Compl. at 7. JLK also filed a notice of directly related case, informing the 

Court that the instant case involved the same contracts as those at issue in JLK I, which 

had been filed several weeks prior. ECF No. 2. On January 9, 2020, GSA filed an 

answer and counterclaim, requesting that the Court enter judgment in GSA’s favor in 

the amount of $48,795.54 and dismiss JLK’s claim. ECF No. 14. JLK filed an answer to 

GSA’s counterclaim on January 30, 2020. ECF No. 15. The case was reassigned to the 

undersigned Judge on February 5, 2020. ECF Nos. 16, 17.

On March 19, 2020, the parties filed a joint preliminary status report requesting 

that further proceedings be stayed “in light of enforcement proceedings that the 

General Service Administration (GSA) will bring against Master Design Build, LLC 

(MDB) for the exact same debt – $48,795.54 – that is at issue in this litigation.” See ECF 

unexcused performance failures of its subcontractors.”). This claim, brought by JLK on behalf 

of IMEG, is a sponsored (or “pass-through”) claim. See Montano Elec. Contractor v. United States, 

114 Fed. Cl. 675, 680 (2014) (“Even absent privity of contract, a subcontractor's claims may be 

brought against the government if the prime contractor brings the suit on behalf of the 

subcontractor—as a pass-through or sponsored claim.”), aff'd, 610 F. App'x 987 (Fed. Cir. 2015); 

see also Compl. ¶ 10 (“In August of 2019 . . . JLK transferred its appellate rights against the GSA 

to IMEG, effectively, sponsoring any de facto claims which could be incurred by IMEG in 

relating to this matter.”).

2 In particular, the contracting officer determined as follows:

JLK & MDB [a]re jointly liable because: 1) MDB/their sub did not 

provide the submittal initially that clarified what 

conduit/connection components were for the fire alarm system and 

what were for the remainder of the electrical systems installation; 

2) JLK/their MEP sub did not clarify this further in their review of 

the submittals, to assure that the installation of the fire alarm 

system followed the specifications. 

Compl. at ¶ 18. Moreover, according to the second COFD, because “both JLK and MDB have 

both provided design and construction services, respectively, on numerous projects for GSA, 

they both were totally familiar with the all of the GSA requirements of a fire alarm system

installation; simply put, this oversight on both of their parts should not have occurred in the 

first place.” Id.
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No. 18 at 2. Those planned collection proceedings are based on the fact that “the final 

decision finding MDB liable for $48,796.54 is conclusive and binding against MDB,” 

because MDB “failed to either appeal [the COFD] to the Civilian Board of Contract 

Appeals (CBCA) within 90 days of the decision or appeal the final decision to this Court 

within a year of that decision.” Id. The government acknowledged that “the collection 

of MDB’s debt by GSA would moot this litigation,” and thus requested that this case be 

stayed while it “diligently pursue[d] the collection of that debt against MDB.” Id. 

On December 23, 2020, this Court entered an Order and Opinion in JLK I, 

dismissing that case, as noted above, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. JLK I, 2020 

WL 7649972, at *1 (Dec. 23, 2020). In that opinion, the Court held that the COFD at issue 

was invalid because it invoked joint and several liability, a tort theory of damages, to 

claim the same sum certain from both JLK and MDB for the alleged breach of their 

respective, independent contracts with GSA. Id. at *11 (“This Court lacks jurisdiction to 

decide this case because both the government’s Counterclaim and the predicate COFD 

constitute a ‘damages [claim] . . . sounding in tort.’” (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1))). 

Additionally, the Court noted that “the government’s approach . . . provides this Court 

– and more importantly, JLK – with no assurances, no procedural method, and no 

substantive rule to ensure that the government will not seek a double recovery via two 

separate judgments in two separate fora.” Id. at *22.

In light of the similarities between the COFD at issue in JLK I and this case, this 

Court ordered the government to show cause as to why this matter should not be 

governed by the result in JLK I, and, thus, dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. ECF No. 

19. On January 15, 2021, the government responded to the Court’s order, conceding 

that, based on the Court’s reasoning and subsequent holding in JLK I, the government 

was not aware of any basis on which to distinguish the instant case. ECF No. 20 at 1–2. 

The government acknowledged that 

[t]he COFD from which plaintiff appeals in this case – like the 

COFD in JLK I – found that JLK and MDB are jointly and 

severally liable for the loss at issue. Because, according to 

JLK I, joint and several liability is a tort concept, this Court 

would not possess jurisdiction to entertain this litigation . . . . 

Id. at 2. Thus, the government ultimately agreed that JLK I requires the dismissal of this 

case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Id.
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III. The COFD At Issue In This Case Suffers From The Same Defects As The 

COFD In JLK I And Thus This Court Lacks Jurisdiction

Pursuant to Rule 12(h)(3) of the Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”), “[i]f the court 

determines at any time that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, the court must dismiss 

the action.” A court’s “[s]ubject-matter jurisdiction may be challenged at any time by 

the parties, or by the court sua sponte.” Folden v. United States, 379 F.3d 1344, 1354 (Fed. 

Cir. 2004) (citations omitted). As acknowledged by the government in its response to 

this Court’s order to show cause, the predicate COFDs in both JLK I and the instant case 

use nearly identical language, which the Court previously held invokes a tort theory of 

recovery, rendering the COFD invalid and the case outside of this court’s jurisdiction. 

ECF No. 20 at 2. The government thus further agreed that the rationale in JLK I requires

the dismissal of this case for lack of jurisdiction.3Id. The Court concurs with the 

government’s assessment. 

We write further only to emphasize that the hypothetical situation with which 

we were concerned in JLK I has actually materialized in this case. Because MDB failed 

to appeal the COFD at issue here, MDB is liable to the government for the full amount 

of $48,795.54 at issue in this case. In essence, then, the government already has held 

another contractor liable for the same sum certain that it seeks to recover from JLK in 

this case. In JLK I, we expressed that precise concern – i.e., that there is no mechanism 

to ensure that the government would not “seek a double recovery via two separate 

judgments in two separate fora.” JLK I, 2020 WL 7649972, at *22 (Dec. 23, 2020). Here, 

the government seeks to do just that: despite the fact that it already has declared the 

judgment against MDB to be “conclusive and binding,” the government is still pursuing 

the identical sum certain for the same injury, but under a different contact and from a 

different contractor in the matter before us. The Court in JLK I determined that no 

contract language or theory of damages permitted the government to take such an 

approach. 

The fact that the Court has granted the government’s request to stay this case 

pending any collection action against MDB does not cure the problem. In that regard, 

the government itself repeatedly has admitted that it cannot collect the same sum 

certain from both JLK and MDB. Specifically, in the government’s request to stay this 

case, the government acknowledged that “the collection of MDB’s debt by GSA would 

moot this litigation” because it seeks to recover from MDB “the exact same debt –

$48,795.54 – that is at issue in this litigation.” See ECF No. 18 at 2 (emphasis added). 

The government conceded the identical point in JLK I, recognizing that should JLK 

tender the entire amount due to GSA pursuant to the COFD at issue in that matter, 

3 To be clear, the government does not concede that JLK I was correctly decided.
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MDB’s pending CBCA appeal of that first COFD would be moot “because there would 

be nothing left for the CBCA to adjudicate.” JLK I, 2020 WL 7649972, at *18 n.14 (Dec. 

23, 2020). The government, however, has not directed the Court to any authority 

demonstrating that our jurisdiction to decide a contract case may turn on the 

collectability of a judgment against another company on another contract. Indeed, as 

this Court noted in JLK I, the possibility of that situation – which, again, apparently has 

materialized in this case – provides further evidence that the COFD’s claim of joint 

liability is grounded in a tort theory of liability, and, thus, is not within this Court’s 

CDA jurisdiction. Id. at *23. (“In the Court's view, the fact that neither the Court nor 

the CBCA can preclude the government from a double recovery at a minimum suggests 

that the government's approach to this matter is erroneous.”).

For the above reasons, as well as those explained in JLK I, the COFD at issue in 

this case is invalid, as it improperly relies upon a tort theory of recovery, and thus this 

Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to decide this case. Accordingly, both the 

Plaintiff’s Complaint and the government’s Counterclaim are DISMISSED, without 

prejudice, pursuant to RCFC 12(h)(3).

IT IS SO ORDERED.

s/Matthew H. Solomson 

Matthew H. Solomson

Judge